Monday 12 September 2011

5.1 UNDERSTANDING REFLECTION OF LIGHT

Law of reflection

- The incident ray , the normal and the reflected ray at the point of incidence , all lie on the same plane .
- The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection .


plane mirror


Characteristics of Image formed in a Plane Mirror

(i) laterally inverted
(ii) image is virtual
(iii) image is same size as the image
(iv) image distance same as object distance
(v) upright


Curved Mirrors
                                                        - C = centre of curvature
                                                        - r = radius of curvature
                                                        - P = pole
                                                        - PC = principle axis


Effect of curved  mirrors on incident rays :

a) Incident rays parallel to the principal axis

                         - Rays parallel to the principal axis converge at the principal focus , F .
                         - F is positioned at the midpoint between C and P .
                         - FP is named the focal length which is denoted by f .


b) Incident rays parallel to each other but not parallel to the principal axis

- Parallel rays converge at a point called secondary focus
- The focal plane joins F , the principal focus and all secondary foci and is perpendicular to the principal axis .
- The ray passing through C is reflected back along the line of the incident ray .
- The distance between the focal plane and the mirror is the focal length , f .


Application

(I) Plane Mirror
Plane mirror in an electrical meter to avoid parallax error .

Instrument for checking teeth .

(II) Concave Mirror
Light reflector in a torchlight .

 The reflecting telescope .

(III) Convex Mirror 



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